CASA DECOR '07

"FRIDAY NIGHT SHORTS"

Fridays through December 14

The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) presents their cutting-edge Friday Night Shorts Program in the Restaurant at CASADÉCOR, Miami's avant-garde design house. Every Friday Night through December 14, MIFF will screen innovative short films from all over the world. The program will vary each week. Miami Film Society members and sponsors will receive 50% off an All Access Admission Pass ($27.50 for a $55 value) and an official CasaDécor ‘07 catalogue. Screenings are at 3, 5 and 7:30 p.m. every Friday.

CasaDécor '07
1444 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
888-882-2349, Ext. 88

REGREEN: Guidelines

REGREEN: Guidelines For Sustainable Residential Remodeling and Renovation

The Strategy Library offers suggestions on the greenest alternatives. This is, perhaps, the heart of REGREEN, offering more than 200 (and growing) green design tactics. They are listed by the familiar and proven LEED categories—innovative design process, sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Browsing the table of contents will help users locate a specific strategy but also alert them to other related opportunities.

An important aspect of REGREEN, its focus on whole-house, systems thinking. It is rarely a single product or building component or even a collection of attributes that result in a building being labeled green. Green building is almost always about how systems . . . work together to reduce environmental impacts.

REGREEN is still a work in progress and its next iteration is up to you. ASID and USGBC have posted the draft version of the guidelines and invite the public to comment. http://www.regreenprogram.org USGBC will respond to all comments, and post the comments and responses (without commenter names or organizations) online on the same site. The survey will ask you to comment on the technical aspects and organizational structure of REGREEN. You will have an opportunity to add strategies and suggest changes and clarifications. The comment period ends December 10, 2007. This is a terrific chance to participate in the process, and the more of you who do, the better the final product will be.

a time to say thanks

Another year gone by, ... marked by the passing of thanksgiving...
In contrast with other years past, I managed to squirm my way out of hosting this years dinner, so in light of that and in a futile attempt to plan ahead I actually played hookie on Wednesday to spend the better part of the day shopping and cooking up a storm, to bring over my delightful sister's home.

Thus, on Thanksgiving day we spent the day with the boys and grandpa at Miami's New Jungle Island. We are truly blessed and thankful!

Before, during and after...

While most clients love to enjoy the fabulous interiors we create, I believe that most designers love to live in the 'during' phase.
Personally, as a designer, I enjoy the process the most. Not the final product when I have to turn the project over to it's rightful owner, but the construction phase where I get to inject my most creative flow. Final cut decisions happen on the job and being able to feel the beat of the project as it develops is something I crave.
While I use highly sophisticated CADD and 3D rendering tools to put our ideas down and present the client with a photographic image of what's to come, the thrill comes from seeing one's concepts develop in front of your very eyes. An interior design remodeling project is a breathing, live endeavor. The dynamic nature of a job under construction result in real-life solutions for a better outcome and can only evolve and mature while on the job.

Opposites attract

The juxtaposition of opposites poles, poses in our minds such a contradiction that it actually appeals to us. This loft apartment -overlooking Biscayne Bay and the very islands that Cristo draped in his famed fucsia tropical silk fabric- can take such stands and marry in a perfect blend the exotic old world carved wood doors with the sleek high gloss white lacquer cabinet finishes and stainless steel appliances. The farmer sink too poses a contradiction in styles with the industrial professional series faucet. An extra thick Irish green slab of marble brings the old world charm of European castles to this very modern loft.

Bringing organic home

HOT Rocks!
Clients are not just enjoying hot rock massages at the spa, they are now enjoying the outdoor feeling that rocks evoke right in their showers. That feeling of showering outdoors can be the one thing we want most: a bit of RELAXATION.
The rock motif brings the organic natural lifestyle to condo or beach front home, weather river rocks or pebbles, flat or on edge, rocks are showing up as zen elements in the home.